Further to the previous blog post concerning stinky Robinson Brothers and their odour and pollution problems comes a guest blog written by former local Sandwell councillor Jayne Wilkinson. She has kindly allowed me to publish it here and as a resident of the Langley area where the Albright and Wilson/Rhodia/Solvay plant is based, she has first hand experience of what happens when a major incident breaks out at a large chemical/industrial factory. In this case it was “Alcohols Limited”, based in Crosswell’s Road.
Jayne recalls:
“I remember the Alcohols ltd chemical Incident as clearly as if it happened Yesterday. It was a usual Monday morning , at the time I was working at home on some casework , the date was 26/11/2012, the time of the incident as I recall the initial explosion was roughly 9.58 am , I was on the phone when I heard a terrifying screech that turned into a painful scream. I looked out the window located in my hallway. I saw what looked like a touch of flames radiating from the far corner of the wall of the factory to our house , I couldn’t believe what I was looking at , I cut off the person I was speaking to on the phone and started to shake violently in a fit of panic .
I dialled 999 and was quickly attempting to get the operator to send a fire engine ,I then realised I was only through to the operator , there was a pause and then I was through to the fire service I explained what had happened and insisted we needed a fire engine as fast as physically possible , I put the phone down and ran up stairs to my daughters bedroom which is on the front of the house facing the alcohols factory , I took a photograph , I’ve no idea why , I think I just could not believe what had happened , I was still shaking when I realised I needed to leave the house ,the windows started to making cracking noises and the heat was very intense radiating through the front of the house , the dogs were panicking and so was I , aimlessly running round the house thinking what should I do I’d never experienced such fear …
I’d been in my pj’s cause I was dying my hair so was not in appropriate clothing to evacuate and my hair dye was still on my head , burning my scalp at this point ….
I ran into the back bedroom throw some clothes on and proceeded to the back garden leaving everything as it was just before the explosion , I didn’t have time to think ,I opened the front door but was forced back into the house by the heat of the explosion , I ran to the back into the house then ran into the back garden realising at the point when I reached the back gate I was trapped , all I could hear was the booming noises of barrels exploding , shooting up into the air , I looked up at the house from the far end of the garden and all I could see was the house appearing to shake with every loud banging noises a black plume of smoke filled the air densely from the site of the explosion …
There was a voice at the back of the gate saying “I’ll get you out don’t worry” , at this point I was crying uncontrollably saying ‘I’m can’t get out I’m going to die , help me I need to save my dogs’ , I ran back to the house from the back gate and got a bunch of keys to attempt to open the padlock on the gate but my hands were uncontrollably shaking , the voice at the back of the gate was shouting move away from the gate ” I’ll kick it in ” I shouted. “You can’t its double bolted its impossible”; at this point I felt I was trapped and I was going to die .
As it was becoming a matter of urgency that myself and my 2 dogs needed to escape the garden I pulled at the trellis fencing and found the strength to rip it apart from the corner , two hands reached over encouraging me to escape , I passed my 2 little dogs out first as they were both petrified then I clambered out and collapsed in a heap crying uncontrollably as I was scared from my traumatic experience .
In the days that followed it was becoming apparent that all the residents in the street and neighbouring streets close to the incident site location were going to be evacuated out our homes for longer than over night , I believe the fire raged for 2 and a half days or round about that time before it was completely put out .
On the day no one communicated with residents on what to do, we all heard word of mouth that we were to report to the Moat farm Junior school at the top of Brookfield’s road , so that we could all be accounted for as affected residents .
We did as instructed, however when we left we were shocked to see people simply standing around the affected site .
During the aftermath we were informed we could go to our homes and collect our belongings. There was no indication from anyone how long we would be evacuated or even if our properties would be safe from looters , we did as instructed but were given no instruction where we should go , I stayed at my mothers with my daughter and my husband and the dogs stayed at his parents .
No one was telling us anything it was as if no one knew anything and could not tell us anything . I’d heard some horror stories of people stating they’d been threatened with arrest if they would not evacuate their homes , one women at the make shift ” rescue centre ” was crying cause the police would not let her rescue her sick dog who was dying of cancer , another said no one helped her rescue her sick husband , it was all very distressing .
We also heard looting had been going on so as you can imagine our front door had been kicked in by the police even though they’d been assured there was no one in our house , the house and its contents were exposed to potential looters as there was no street lighting it would make our local street a target .
Melted
In the days that followed we were allowed back home to access the devastation our home was melted from the front and our family car was also in a state of being melted as were other neighbours , I had to cope for others , my neighbour was extremely distressed after the experiences we all had during that period of time , we all supported each other with very little information being given to us .
We spent Christmas 2012 without windows having them boarded up , waiting for them to be replaced , my neighbours homes nearest the heat of the fire were also in the same situation , we insisted that when the windows were replaced our neighbours got theirs replaced first as we felt it right to support others over ourselves as we’d always been local community volunteer workers and we always thought of others before ourselves .
We felt isolated and unsupported at times by the failures of information sharing , we were affected but felt at times an afterthought, we still don’t know what’s going on at the factory .”
After the incident Sandwell Council as a local authority published a post fire incident which can be read below.
Crosswells_Road_Fire_Post_Incident_Report_v1_0
According to the aim of the report
“As part of Sandwell Council’s Emergency Management Policy a post incident review is carried out after every significant event involving the council. This report is designed to capture all of the learning points, to ensure that if a similar incident occurs in the future the council will be able to demonstrate, through an improved response, that lessons have been learned. In keeping with the expectations of Government and the requirements of the Council under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 the lessons learned report will include recommendations which, if approved, form the basis of an action plan.”
Basically it amounts to what a great job they think they did on the day, though as Jayne has pointed out, this was a different view to residents actually affected. The future of the factory appears to be clouded, and like the Trinity Street plant it remains within the so called “consultation zone” which prohibits certain types of development from taking place near to such permitted industrial sites BECAUSE OF THE HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES CONTAINED WITHIN. . Whereas the residents in such areas are largely in the dark as to what is really going on behind the industrial shutters, such companies can continue to operate anonymously , only revealing themselves when the next major incident comes along.
DO YOU LIVE NEAR TO A SIMILAR CHEMICAL/ INCINERATOR/ QUARRY/ WASTE TIP SITE SUCH AS THIS OR RATTLECHAIN LAGOON? HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN A SIMILAR MAJOR INCIDENT? WE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR STORY AND YOU CAN TELL IT HERE. PLEASE DROP US A LINE.
WE NEED TO MAKE THESE PEOPLE AWARE THAT THE VICTIMS OF INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION HAVE A VOICE.